


Hina Dolls

by Baknami



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: Family, Gen, Holiday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-23 17:40:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6124831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baknami/pseuds/Baknami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leonardo seems to have disappeared, and the others in the family are angry that he broke one of their biggest rules.  What could possibly have possessed him to do so?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hina Dolls

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Hina Matsuri! It's March 3rd in Japan, so I thought I'd make something for the Hamato family to celebrate! Hope you enjoy it!

The entire lair seemed unnaturally quiet, which was strange given that Michelangelo was having a great time on the pinball game and Donatello was fiddling with his computer after finding a treasure beyond treasures; actual near-mint computer game CDs in an almost dry box at a garbage dump near home. It took the orange banded brother a few high scores to realize something was wrong, and he suddenly settled down next to his genius brother. “I just noticed... Leo hasn't come to beat my scores...” Their leader wasn't able to stand letting someone have a score higher than him for longer than an hour.

“Stop the presses,” Donatello muttered in response, not even bothering to make eye contact with his brother as he made sure the DOSBox was working properly before mounting the CD and loading up the program.

“Where *is* Leo anyway?” Michelangelo asked as he watched the incredibly old, pixelated characters clomp awkwardly across the laptop screen.

“Beats me,” Donatello replied, whistling through his gap when the horribly fuzzy midi voice acting played. He was too busy making sure the game didn't crash halfway through the intro to care about where Leonardo had gotten to, anyway.

Raphael seemed to care, though, as he came out to ask where their missing brother was while the younger turtles watched a tower explode from a magical lightning bolt and they “oooooohed” in unison. “Yo, where's Leo?”

“Musta gone out,” Michelangelo replied, completely transfixed as the wizard began mumbling in an arcane language. Donatello bounced in his seat as the searing fireball fried the camera, and the two turtles let out a fanboyish squeal as they visibly shook at the sheer *awesomeness* that they witnessed.

Raphael seemed to care more about his missing brother, although it was because: “He whines at us all the time about going out without permission, and here he is, disappearing!? That's not fair at all!”

Donatello looked up at Raphael as he paced with a growl. “Since when did you care about fairness? I just mean- Mikey! No!” The genius slapped at Michelangelo's hand, “I got the game to work, I should at least play it first!”

Michelangelo fought back by tugging on his brother's laptop. “But I want to play the lizard dude!”

“Mikey, leggo! You can play after I ensure the game is working properly!” The two snapped at each other a bit longer, and Raphael rolled his eyes before heading towards the turnstiles. If Leonardo was going to just *leave*, then that meant he had permission to go too. That was the brand new Raphael Rule and it *made sense*.

Unfortunately for Raphael, Leonardo had just returned at that moment, wearing as much large, bulky clothing as he could to chase away the cold of the New York winter above them. He returned carrying a rather large bundle that was wrapped beautifully in pinks, purples and golds. Raphael's eyes narrowed as Leonardo carefully walked the large box through the turnstiles and tried to avoid getting his giant coat stuck on the dingy metal, “Alright, Leo, where the shell were you?”

“Murakami-san needed some help with cleaning up his shop, so I repainted the outside of it.” Leonardo replied matter-of-factly, as if this was perfectly normal and he didn't just break one of their biggest rules. His eyes strayed to the fighting duo on the couch before turning back to Raphael. “He gave me a gift as thanks.”

“A gift!? Look at Mr. Special here, all with pretty pink presents!” Raphael's hand shot out to grab at the box, but Leonardo ducked right and skipped out of arm's length. “You didn't even bring us along! What's wrong with you!? At least let us see i-”

“Raph, calm down! It's not for me! It's for- Raph, get *off* of me!” Leonardo dodged again and kicked out at his brother, his hands both taken up by the large gift box. The two began a wrestling match, although at this point, Leonardo had to work with only his legs. The lair quickly became lively again as Donatello shoved his hand in Michelangelo's face and Leonardo kicked at a frustrated Raphael.

It wasn't until their father shouted into the room “Yame!” in such a huge, paternal tone that everyone immediately froze and turned to their father, Leonardo's leg in Raphael's hands and Donatello's thumb between Michelangelo's teeth. Splinter looked around with a disappointed frown, and his sons released each other and moved to stand before him, ready for a chewing out session. “What in the world is going on here?”

“Leo left the lair without telling anyone! He makes rules that he just ignores whenever he wants!” Raphael growled, turning to glare at his brother.

Michelangelo and Donatello were both happy to pretend that they weren't party to the screaming that had been going on just moments ago. “Yeah, Leo! Where did you go, anyway?” the orange-banded turtle demanded.

Leonardo ignored his brothers and lowered his head towards Splinter. “Sensei, I apologize, but I just wanted to get you a gift...” He bowed low to the ground and offered the box reverently to his father. Splinter's eyes followed Leonardo's movements to the beautiful present, and he very slowly reached out to take it.

“You put yourself in danger for this,” Splinter said with a tone that said he was more disappointed than angry, and Leonardo did not move from his bow, completely still as he prepared for the lesson he was about to get in discretion. “The fact that you didn't tell anyone about it is very unlike you, Leonardo. What could this gift be that you would risk yourself to keep your brothers from knowing about it...?”

Raphael continued to glare at Leonardo as he straightened up and shook his head, “I have no good excuse for my behavior, Sensei, and I am willing to accept any punishment you...” he shot Raphael a glance, making sure that everyone knew he deferred only to Splinter's wisdom and didn't honestly care what their little hot-head thought of his actions, “...deem fit.”

Splinter was quiet as he tugged at the paper and it tore under his sharp fingernails. He let the wrapping paper drop away before opening the box, and the boys' eyes widened in varying degrees of largeness.

“Hina dolls!?” Donatello practically squawked, his surprise causing his voice to crack. He whipped over to give his brother a jaw-dropped expression, “How in the world did you get your hands on *Hina dolls*?”

“Dude, they're so pretty!!” Michelangelo proclaimed, pushing up to get a better look at the pair. There they were, two magnificent dolls. One of them was a beautiful empress wearing so many kimono that a real woman would have been lugging around sixty pounds if she was wearing that much fabric, and next to her was an emperor of majestic quality, his eyes focused and his hands wielding his royal shaku.

Leonardo nodded softly, “When Murakami-san learned that we didn't have any, he offered to buy these for us, but I wanted to at least give something back to him.” The young leader finally let himself shrug and turn away, “He does so much for us already.”

“But why Hina dolls?” Donatello asked, completely befuddled. “I mean, sure, it's almost March, but...”

“Perhaps I was a little hasty, but... I thought, for Karai...”

There was silence for a moment, from Raphael and Michelangelo's incredulity to Splinter's sudden knowing, sad frown. It was Donatello who spoke first. “Oh, I get it,” the genius proclaimed. “Sensei didn't know about Karai until a while ago, so you got them for her!”

Splinter carefully caressed the box, looking longingly at the dolls within. “Indeed, the Hina Festival is practically an unofficial 'Girls Day', so...” He sighed, feeling melancholy, “These dolls are beautiful, and I am happy that Murakami-san offered them to us. When we lost our last ones during our previous move, I had given up hope of celebrating this festival correctly ever again.”

Michelangelo seemed to have let his mind wander despite his father's words, as it was that time that his gears clicked into place and he let out a hurt shout. “Wait a minute... You got Hina dolls without us!?” Michelangelo whined, clearly distraught that Leonardo didn't even bother asking them to join him, “Karai's our sister too, you know!”

Leonardo got a little defensive about that. “If I had told you what I was planning, you'd make fun of me!”

“Of course we would!” Raphael shouted back, practically flailing about at how stupid his brother was being. He then crossed his arms and huffed at their leader, “But then we woulda done what we could to help. Mikey's right: Karai may be trapped as a mutant, but she's still Sensei's daughter, so she's our sister. We'd do whatever it took to help her.”

Leonardo looked at his family with wide eyes. He really hadn't expected them to say such things, as he was certain they would only laugh at him if he brought it up. But no, they all really cared about Karai and wanted the best for her too. ...Humbled beyond measure, he lowered his head and looked away, suddenly unable to meet Raphael's stern gaze. “I-I see. I acted in haste then, and I apologize to everyone.”

“Darn right you do!” Raphael muttered, shoving on his brother's shoulder and watching him teeter before moving back upright, “Hmph, at least you said 'sorry'.” As much as he hated to say it, he really did like *hearing* it.

“Well...” Donatello said, glancing at the box before looking at Michelangelo and Raphael, “They wouldn't really be an emperor and empress without at least their three ladies-in-waiting, and I'm sure we could find something else to clean or fix...”

Michelangelo's eyes widened, and his face cracked into a fantastic smile. Raphael, on the other hand, shrugged and continued to be pessimistic. “He probably can't afford to buy anything else...”

“Then let's do something to thank him for the dolls he *did* get us!” the youngest insisted, charging past Donatello towards the exit. Both the genius and the red-banded ninja waved a bit at Leonardo and Splinter before they jogged after the wily child, leaving their older family members alone in the lair.

Leonardo let the silence permeate for a while, as he felt that his father was still disappointed in him. “...Am I grounded?” he finally asked.

“Do you think that would be an appropriate punishment?” Splinter asked stoically, turning to walk towards the dojo. Leonardo went quiet and followed behind the ninja master without a word, feeling like that meant “yes”.

“I suppose it's fair,” he replied softly, humbly, as they walked into the dojo. “Given the rule I broke.”

Splinter set the box down before moving into their storage to get some of the sturdy, uneaten wood they had salvaged many months previously. “Well, while we wait, I suppose it would be best to build a stage for our royal guests, don't you think?”

Leonardo's smile returned as he moved to jog after his father, determined to make this Hina festival one to remember for the Hamato clan.

**Author's Note:**

> The game that Donatello and Michelangelo were watching is the opening to Master of Magic, an old game on DOS, the computer operating systems before Windows and Mac made their own special versions that we know more of today. If you want you can find "MoM"'s opening on Youtube. It's sufficiently cheesy and fits their love of camp perfectly.
> 
> I originally wanted to have Donnie find some Warlords games, since it was my favorite strategy game at that time, but A) those can be played multiplayer thus destroying the need for a fight, and B) Master of Magic can actually be LEGALLY PURCHASED at the Good Old Games website for less than five dollars and I figured I should talk about an old game that people don't have to scour the horrible recesses of the internet to see.


End file.
